The Little Toad Creek Inn and Tavern hummed with activity this weekend at the annual Hummingbird Festival. Hundreds of the tiny winged creatures zipped from feeder to feeder between crowds with cameras and scientists tracking the little birds’ migrations through the area.

Black-chinned, broad-tailed, Calliope, Magnificent and Rufous hummingbirds — some born as far away as Alaska — flit through the Gila National Forest each year and, especially, it seems, in the Sapillo Creek valley in which The Little Toad Creek Inn and Tavern stands. The inn’s many, long-established feeders help draw the hummingbirds on their annual journey, according to Jason Kitting, a University of New Mexico student studying for his hummingbird banding certification. He said that one variety, the Magnificent hummingbird, is rare or even absent throughout the rest of New Mexico, but a few spend time in this one valley each summer.

“Pretty much all of these birds aren’t local breeders. They’re going to seek out reliable food sources,” Kitting said, waiting near a humane cage trap a small team used to capture and band hummingbirds on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Kitting, along with fellow students Jessica Allen and Bill Talbot, had banded at least 20 birds by 10 a.m. Sunday. Talbot, a former vascular surgeon turned certified hummingbird bander, started his new career after retiring from the medical world. He took lead on the banding project at this year’s festival.

“The biggest thing is to let people know there’s a larger purpose to this,” he said. “We aren’t just putting on a show.” One of those purposes, he said, is to study the effects of climate change on desert species of birds. “They’re already at their extreme. What if it gets a little hotter, a little drier?”

Another goal is to find and discern the Allen’s hummingbird from the larger, common Rufous, with which it shares almost every characteristic — only distinguishable by small differences in tail feathers.

Once the birds were banded, Talbot and his crew helped enthusiasts of all ages experience holding the birds and releasing them into the warm, summer skies. Taya Potts, 6, and Angel Potts, 2, were among those who took part.

“I never in my life thought the kids would get to release hummingbirds like this,” said their grandmother, Amy Potts. “It’s great for them to see scientists at work right here.”